Shoshone
by spectre666
Summary: We all know about Mim, but what about the other Possible women? Were they all heroic and virtuous, or did some have a "wild" side? An answer to Mace Ecam's western challenge
1. Chapter 1

Shoshone

_**Middleton, Colorado, the present.**_

"Kimmie cub!" Dr. James Possible jumped to his feet, his arms reaching to hug his oldest child.

Kim returned the embrace tightly. "Hello, Daddy."

James held his daughter away to look at her. "I can see college food is as bad as ever, you've lost weight." He frowned."

"Daddy! As if I had any to lose." Kim giggled. She turned to hug her mother. "Mom. How's the hospital treating you?"

"Fine, Kimmie. Where's Ron?" Anne glanced around her daughter curiously.

"Yes, where is he? He and I need to have another little talk." James growled laughingly.

"Just because we're living in the same house does not mean Ron deserves to be sent into space, Daddy." Kim scolded.

James fingers came up to stroke his chin in thought. "Something wrong with the boy? I know if I was living in the same house with your mother when we were in college..."

"James!" "Daddy! TMI!" Both Possible women's faces became brighter than their hair.

"James, as if I would have!"Anne cast a side long glance at her daughter, "Although you were quite the handsome young man, for a science geek. It would have been tempting, very tempting."

"I am not hearing this conversation," Kim sputtered "And for your information, Daddy, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Ron."

"And you know this how?" James asked.

"Ah...well...we...ah...Dad, what I really came home for, other than to see you, was to ask about some family history."

"Not going to answer, huh?" Anne smirked.

"So not." Kim muttered, "Can we sit while we discuss this?"

"Of course. Would you like some coffee." Anne reached for a cup.

"Please and thank you, Mom."

"So, Kimmie cub, what did you need to know?"

"My sociology class. We're doing a project on the western women, and the professor asked if any of us had any family history. I know we've been here a while, but you've never discussed it much." She paused, "I know about Mim, but not much else. And she was more modern than I think the prof is looking for."

"Kimmie, I never really learned much about the family history. I was always more interested in the future and space than I was the past." James absently began rubbing the back of his neck. "Although there were some stories back home..."

"Thanks, mom," Kim smiled at her mother as she set coffee in front of her, She leaned forward eagerly, "Tell."

"Well, you have to understand, I don't know much." James looked distinctly uncomfortable. "Just, a thought popped into my head. Pomegranate Possible."

"Who?"

"As I understand it, she was the eldest daughter of the Possible family when they moved to Montana. Came to a bad end. Very bad woman." James looked down into his coffee.

"That's right." Kim exclaimed, "You grew up on the ranch, didn't you, Daddy. I remember you mentioning it. But who is Pomegranate," She grinned at the name, "Possible? And what did she do that was so bad?"

James stood abruptly, stepping to refill his cup. "To tell you the truth, I'm not really certain. Something the adults went all 'we could but you're too young' over."

"Do you remember anything else?"

"I remember seeing an old picture of her. Sort of a pretty Calamity Jane. She was wearing buckskins, pistols, and had a bull whip hanging from her shoulder."

"That's all you know?" Kim was clearly dissapointed.

"That's about it." James sipped his fresh brew. "If you really need to know more, you might want to talk to Slim. All the old records and journals are at the ranch."

"I wonder if Ron's up for a road trip."


	2. Chapter 2

Shoshone: Chapter 1

I.

"All right, you can wake up now. We're here." Kim reached to gently shake her boyfriend.

Two sleepy brown eyes blinked at her, "All ready?"

"I swear, next trip you drive." Kim groused.

Ron stretched, back popping, before leaning over to place a quick peck on his BFGF's lips. "Naw, never happen. You won't even let your mother drive your baby, much less "if you dinged my car you're dead" Stoppable." He opened his door and stepped out, turning to the rear door to begin unloading luggage.

"I'm not that bad." Kim muttered as she exited the car.

"Right. And I suppose it was Nana who hung the tweebs from the school flagpole by their underwear?" Ron smirked.

"They should have asked!" Kim flushed, "Besides, J. P. Barrymore pizza? In my car?"

"Um-hum, but no possessiveness, nope, not a smidgen." Ron smirked.

"Well...well..."

"Well, howdy, Kim." A slow drawl announced Slim, just as a brunette whirlwind snatched Kim into a bear hug. "Hi (grunt), Joss."

"Kim! Great to see you, cousin." Joss finally released Kim, turning to her smiling companion. "And you brought Ron." Joss leaped to Ron, snatching him into an even more enthusiastic hug. "Hi, Ron."

Kim smiled at her 'little' cousin's antics. The smile gradually fading into a narrow eyed frown as it went on. She remembered the crush Joss had on Ron, and noticed the fact that her cousin wasn't so little anymore. She watched Ron's faint flush as Joss continued to burrow into his shoulder. She cleared her throat warningly.

Joss finally released Ron. She stepped back, glancing down at the small pile of luggage at his feet. "Need a little help there, pardner?"

"Ah...no, it would be my honor." Ron stammered before he began gathering the bags. "One of my many skills." When he was finished, he somehow had all of the bags in hand, stacked so that a small peephole allowed him to see straight ahead. "Ok, I'm ready, let's go."

Slim and Joss exchanged startled looks. "Well, pardner, that'll come in mighty handy if you ever get work as a bell hop, but..."

"You have help here." Joss put in, reaching for a bag.

"NO, don't..." The pile collapsed around Ron as Joss lifted the top suitcase. He looked at the scattered pile mournfully. "See, it's a highly developed process and..."

"Never mind," Kim laughed, "No one here is named Yori." She grabbed two bags. The others grabbed luggage until there were only three bags for Ron. He looked lost. "What?"

Ron rubbed his neck, "I don't know if I can carry that few safely." He said seriously.

Slim stared for a moment. "Uh-huh, wal, just do your best, young fellow, now let's get in the house. I've got a pot of my chili getting cold." Ron, remembering manners, managed to let Slim open the door first.

II.

"Wow, my compliments to the cook." Ron leaned back in satisfaction. "Mr. Possible, that was outstanding."

"Hnk...great." A slightly redder than usual naked pink mole rat agreed, giving a belch. "scuze."

"I've told you before, Ron, it's Slim." Slim grinned, "And I thank you." He turned to his niece. "Now, Kimmie, can you give me a little more information are what you're looking for?"

Kim smiled fondly at her fiancee, "It's simple, Uncle Slim. My professor would like any of us who have actual history in the westward movement to report on our ancestors and their experience. When I asked Dad, he could only remember a Pomegranate Possible."

"Yep, Squirt never was too big on history or ranching." Slim laughed. "Even when we were kids, he was always a little finicky about steppin' in somethin'."

"Daddy?"

"Yep." Seeing the question in Kim's eyes, Slim laughed. "I know, he works around all kinds of nasty smellin', dangerous chemicals, but that's different. I guess he just has a thing about organic. Heckuva rider, though."

"Daddy?"

Slim raised one tolerant brow, "Never told you that part of how he financed college was a bronc bustin' scholarship, did he?"

"My Daddy?" Kim was a little dazed.

"Yep, your daddy. Warn't anything with hair that boy couldn't ride. Used the scholarship to pay for his first two years of basic courses, then started physics and never looked back."

"My...daddy."

Ron, seeing his dazed love, stepped in. "But what about Pomegranate, Slim?"

"Not sure if we should talk about her in front of my little girl." Slim mock frowned, "She might want to imitate her, and that would be bad, very bad."

Missing her father's twinkle, Joss crossed her arms over her chest and humphed, "I'm sixteen, daddy, not a little girl."

"I know, darlin', I know." Slim soothed, "You'll always be my little butter butt, though."

Joss' tanned face flushed. "Daddy!"

Slim grinned, then turned back to Ron. "Depends on what you listen to, Ron. A lot of the old timers called her a renegade. She wasn't what you think of when you think of a Victorian lady. The one charge I know of that is undoubtedly true is horse thief."

Kim woke up, "Our ancestor was a horse thief?"

"Yep, 'course that was later in her life. You can't really call her a direct ancestor, Kimmie, as far as I know she never married and had no children."

Kim frowned, "You know Uncle Slim, Ron and I proved that another Possible was framed."

Slim laughed, "I know, but there warn't no frame in this case. She did it all right." He paused thoughtfully, "For which all of the Possibles are mighty grateful. The horse's she bred from those she stole kept this family fed for years."

"You mean you have regular horses, with hair and teeth and everything here?" Ron asked nervously.

"Yep, you didn't see 'em last time you were here, because that's part of the original ranch, the old house, about ten miles from here." Slim answered.

_Beep Beep Beep Beep_

Kim held her arm up, "Go, Wade."

A holographic image of Kim's tech guru appeared. "Hi, guys. Mr. Possible, Miss Possible."

Slim looked startled for a moment then smiled, "Just call me Slim, young feller, everybody does."

"And it's Joss, not Miss Possible." Joss injected.

"OoooKay. Nice to meet you."

Kim frowned, "Wade, I thought you weren't going to call us unless a Little Diablos sitch came up."

"Nothing like that, Kim." Wade assured his friend. "I know you feel you have to do this research yourself, but Ron asked me..."

Kim raised an eyebrow in question, "Ron?"

Ron leaned forward, "Did you find out anything, Wade?"

"Not much, but this might help you visualize your research." Wade's image disappeared, replaced by that of a young woman. The image was approximately five feet seven inches tall, dressed in a ball gown from the eighteenth century, with red hair so dark it was almost black. "This is your relative, Kim, Pomegranate Possible. I found some portraits in the National Archives on line. She seems to have been the belle of the ball in Washington D.C."

Kim gaped at the image. "This is the Calamity Jane of the Possible family?"

III.

Kim stared at the stacks of boxes, clothes, trunks, and miscellaneous debris when the soft lights of the room came on.

"May take a little work to find what you need, Kim." Slim drawled.

"Uncle Slim...ah..." Kim choked, "You had a climate control room built but didn't sort anything?"

"Wal, a feller name of Hank Perkins was supposed to do that, but he never showed. Don't know what happened. The folks from the historical preservation bunch promised they'd get here as soon as possible but it may be a while."

Kim turned to her BF. "Ron?"

"KP, don't even ask. You know my research skills are pretty well limited to..." He sighed as his love's eyes widened and her lip quivered. "Fine, where do you want me to start?"

Joss giggled, "I can help, cousin. But like Ron said, where do we start?"

Kim looked around the room, her nimble mind forming a plan. "Joss, you and I will start with the document boxes, Ron, you start going through the other stuff. See if any of it has a label or tag that relates."

"Ron, keep an eye out for anything stamped 'KD'." Slim advised.

"KD?"

"Yep, Pomegranate's whip had the initials burned into it."

"You've got the whip?" Kim asked.

Slim walked over to an old roll top desk. He pulled the hatch open, then handed Kim a whip and an old daguerreotype. "Found these when we were moving all this stuff in here."

Kim looked at the faded picture of a woman in the portrait. She was wearing fringed buckskins and had a whip slung on her shoulder. "This must be the picture dad remembered."

"Probably so."

"What do the letters 'KD' mean, Uncle Slim?" Kim asked

"No idea." Slim turned to leave, "You kids have fun."

Ron looked around in despair. "Fun he says." He muttered.

"No whining, and don't sort anything, yet." Kim ordered, "Just stack anything promising up and we'll go through it later."

IV.

"KP? Let's call it a night and pick it up in the morning." Ron requested as he came around the stack of crates. He halted so quickly Joss bumped into him from behind. "KP?"

Kim, sitting on the floor beside a stack of documents, looked up from the book she was staring at. "I think I found Pomegranate's journal, Ron."

Joss stepped around Ron. "Really? Anything good in it?"

"I don't know. I haven't read anything but the first page to see what it is."

"Tell you what, KP, let's get cleaned up, get some snackage, then you can read it."

Kim looked regretfully at the book in her hands, "Can't I just..."

"No!" Ron said in alarm. "I know you're curious, KP, but I also know you. If you get into that journal now, none of us will get either clean or fed."

"I'm not that bad." Kim frowned.

Ron quirked one eyebrow in a fair imitation of Mrs. Dr. Possible.

Kim scowled, then reached up her hand, "Ok, ok, give me a hand up." She set the journal down. "After dinner."

V.

Kim scowled at her BF. "Ok, monkey boy, hand it over."

"Here you go, KP." Ron handed her the old leather volume, "but admit it, you feel better after a bath and a meal."

Kim snatched the journal. "Ok, you were right. You still didn't have to steal it. I would've waited." She scowled at the laughter of the other three, four if you counted the giggling mole rat. "Well..."

"Gonna keep chewing on me or are you going to read us the journal?" Ron grinned.

Slim and Joss sat up. "Let's hear what she has to say, Kim?"

"Yeah, cousin, I want to hear all about the bank robbin's and horse theivin'." Joss grinned.

"All right, children, settle down, or no good night story." Kim frowned mockingly. She opened the cover.

_"March, 1875"_

_"Tomorrow my brothers and I leave to join our father in Montana. I will be so glad to leave this society life my aunt loves and insists that I love. Her persistence on finding me a 'proper' husband has contributed in no small way to our disagreements. Lord Fiske, especially, is becoming obdurate."_


End file.
